Fracking myths and facts

There are a great many myths about fracking, which are often repeated over and over again in the media by politicians, the gas industry lobby and supporters of shale gas production. Some of these are repeated so often – sometimes even word-for-word, as though they are all working from the same centrally published script – that it is perhaps hard to believe that they aren’t true. When you hear something a hundred times, then you almost instinctively begin to believe that it must be true, simply because you hear it so often. However, many of the claims by advocates of fracking do not stand up to scrutiny and can be clearly shown to be untrue.

Here are ten of the most common myths about fracking and reasons why the aren’t true. To check any the information provided, please click on the links within the text to go to the original source material.